Back From The Dead/ Mt. Holyoke Redux. March 21, 2012

Well, I seem to have survived my epic encounter with contact dermatitis. It still ain’t pretty, and I’m still twitchin’ like an Irish step-dancer with crabs, but I’m moving in the right direction, so All Is Well here in Runtville.

That having been said, it’s time to resume showing you my (our) visits to the Mount Holyoke Flower Show of 2012.

They have a LOT going on there besides the seasonal presentation, on accounta it’s a sprawling complex of greenhouses with all of the gears and chains necessary to control the environs for a variety of plant types:

This is no light-weight operation. The pros who run this place with the help of lots of enthusiastic students do a spectacular job! The year-round offerings range from sub-tropical paradises, humid halls of palms:

…with their features so different than what we here in the Northeast are used to:

Great figs, enveloping and supplanting their predecessors:

Strange trees sprouting what looked for all the world to me to be Muppets:

…and extravagant broad-leaf specimens with dark, sultry hues:

Then, within a few paces, the scene changes to one of arid abundance:

How miraculously incongruous!

This is my favorite part of the Mount Holyoke greenhouses, perhaps because it so contradicts the season, perhaps because I wish I was in the grand spaces of the American Southwest.

At any rate, the details are luscious, and I did my best to capture them.

Succulents filled with dew:

…and sprouting flowers:

Cacti pushing out tiny blossoms:

Thick, complex roots and branches speaking of a desire to survive where life is unwelcomed:

Rotund structures sequestering water for drier times:

All in all, it’s a spectacular place to spend an afternoon or two. Plenty of space for kids to get into it:

Honey bees noodling about fragrant blossoms:

And lots of just plain beauty:

Thanks for your patience as I’ve struggled to get this out. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster here at Chez Runt.

I’m so glad you’re well on the way to recovery but now I feel kind of bad that I didn’t suggest an old method of alleviating rashes that helped me in the past. Since you’re still itching you might want to try an oatmeal bath remedy. It’s not necessary to buy any expensive products.

The latest pictures of the flower show are as nice as the first. It’s getting warmer here all the time (too warm yesterday at 82) but we still wait for the first flowers of the season.. except for the hardy yellow stinkweed blossoms.